Meatballs for dinner! My son was overjoyed by the news, only to be crushed when dinnertime arrived with the not-so-welcome news that the meatballs were to be served sans noodles. My family hardly ever has grains with dinner any more, since some of us (the adults in the family) are eating mostly Primal (quasi-paleo, or caveman) fare, which means grains are a rarity (grains have many undesirable qualities that I was unaware of until recently). Primal eating dovetails nicely with an eat-local challenge; finding local grains used to be one of the hardest aspects of eating local. Now: no grains, no problem! The non-adults in the family, however (14 and 12) think eating grain-free is for losers. They are welcome to make their own grainy meals if they choose, and I reluctantly buy them flour, pasta, bread and crackers – I don’t want to be a food-nazi mom.
This was a long-winded and roundabout way of saying that once dinner was ready, we had to postpone it so my son could make noodles for himself and his sister. Whatever.
The meatballs were made with half ground beef and half pork sausage, with onions, garlic, and a touch of grated sheep cheese. We served them up with spaghetti sauce and cabbage sautéed in butter. The kids had decidedly non-local noodles – we didn’t miss ‘em.
Many thanks to the farmers who made this meal possible:
- Tamarlane Farm in Lyndon for the ground beef
- Chandler Pond Farm in South Wheelock for the onions, cabbage, and sausage
- Mountain Foot Farm in Wheelock for the garlic
- Cabot Creamery in Cabot for the butter
- County Road Farm in West Charleston for the home-canned tomatoes
- Hope Farm in East Charleston for the sheep cheese (our very last one – sadly, Hope Farm is retiring from cheesemaking)
Funny about your son’s reaction! I’m sorry to hear that Hope Farm is no longer going to make cheese. Do you know why? I wish that more of these kinds of farms could make it.
[...] at Northeast Kingdom Localvores, Annika’s son had two reactions to her challenge meal: Meatballs (Yay!), but no noodles (Boo). As Annika explains, the adults in the family are sticking to primal [...]
Hope farm is run by a couple who are retirement age, and as I understand it, they want to reduce the hard work of farming by giving up milking. I think they will continue producing lamb. My husband is heartbroken – they make his favorite cheese of all time.